Step by Step

byJonathanU

170 followers

6 years ago

One Piece of the Puzzle

My discovery of Wealthy Affiliate has been an important piece of a puzzle that has fit together at a pivotal point in my life. For several years following the completion of a doctoral degree that has left my family and me in nearly $200,000 worth of debt with no promising means of employment in my chosen field, I have floundered considerably, groping for meaning, purpose, and perspective. My wife, my daughters, and I have lived in an emotionally toxic home with my in-laws for the past four years, with little physical, emotional, or psychological space to ourselves. Neither my wife nor I have found work of any meaning or purpose even remotely related to our fields of interest or expertise. We have been in a perpetual state of unease, never able to settle into a physical or abstract space of our own for our girls or ourselves. And the work that occupies the majority of our time has felt largely unfulfilling. I now KNOW, however, what I have struggled for several years to understand on an intellectual level with little success; I DECIDE THE DIRECTION OF MY LIFE. I AM NOT A VICTIM OF FATE. I AM NOT SUBJECT TO A RANDOM, CRUEL, AND PURPOSELESS EXISTENCE. I CAN CHOOSE TO ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR MY LIFE, AND IN DOING SO, SEIZE THE OPPORTUNITIES EVER PRESENT AROUND ME TO SHAPE MY LIFE AS I SEE FIT.

Despite the external circumstances and the appearance of challenges outside of myself, I have come to understand that all the apparent problems in my life are quite different from what I have understood them to be until quite recently. First, I have come to realize that all the circumstances in my life, in one way or another, are functions of my consciousness. All the events, situations, people, and places are a result of some aspect of my internal world expressing itself in the physical world that is my field of experience, the "place" where my consciousness creates in form what it believes to be true energetically. Second, I now see that recognizing and accepting this first truth enables me to inquire as to what purpose my current experiences serve in the growth of my soul. And what I realize is that it all has been designed, with my participation, to provide the appropriate obstacles, resistance, and opportunities to shape me into the being that I am meant to be. So accepting this truth, no longer fighting the presence of struggle in my life, no longer refusing to embrace the challenges that may present themselves initially as discomfort or even pain, I can do the work that is a necessary part of becoming the person I am meant to be, building the life my soul yearns to manifest. My commitment to pursuing Wealthy Affiliate is but one piece of a puzzle that I'm assembling in the process of creating the life that beckons me.

Keystone Habits

In The Power of Habit, Charles Duhigg devotes a chapter to what often are referred to as "Keystone Habits". These are strategically chosen habits that, when addressed and reformed in earnest, tend to set in motion a host of other habitual behaviors. So focusing on developing a carefully chosen habit in our lives can constellate a set of life-altering habits. I seem, at last and after much searching, to have discovered, or perhaps more appropriately to have accepted and committed to some habits that have begun to snowball and gain me momentum in a very positive direction. Wealthy Affiliate, or more accurately, my commitment to pursuing it, is one of these habits for me.

This is my first blog post within WA, part of my completion of Level 2 in the training. I've yet to make any money from my website, and that is fine by me. I know that as long as I continue making progress, and I am doing that, the results will come. So I proceed in following the incredibly well laid plan presented by WA.

The Plan

Within the next three months, I plan to have replaced my income from my current primary source of income with income from my website, allthingspercussive.com. That won't be particularly difficult since I don't make much money there! HA! Once I've done that, I will have leveraged my time to continue building the website. Included in my plans for the website are the sale of a music instruction textbook and online music lessons. The time leverage that WA will give me will allow me to finish the textbook.

The time freedom also will allow me to hone my music production skills so that I may begin licensing my music for television, radio, and film. Having spent the past two plus decades on the performing, composing, and teaching side of the music equation, I have come to discover the significant deficiencies in my music production skills and knowledge. As I strengthen this aspect of my musicianship, I will begin generating music for licensing, play along tracks for sale on the website, and YouTube content as a means of establishing my Elite Rhythm Academy, an online subscription music academy featuring premium music instructional content.

Consistent, Incremental Progress

I still have much to do before reaching even my first milestone of leaving my current job. I see now, however, that there is only one direction in which to proceed, and that direction is forward. And I'm having fun in the process.